Pushing Forward Just as We Would if the Roles were Reversed

The most amazing thing one has to confront when one reads stories like this is the implied assumption underneath it all. Why would they need to do that if not for purely military advantage? And why would they want that if they weren't seeking to overpower us in a conflict? After all, so this thinking goes, they have nothing to fear from us. We're not aggressive.

We like to think that we are not aggressive, and in more than a few areas perhaps we are not. When it comes to markets, and resource access, however, you can bet your ass we can be as aggressive as "Big Money" needs us to be. And lets be clear here: there is a new land grab competition coming upon us, fueled by the need for critical resources, that any nation who ignores it does so at its peril. That is, of course, unless what few adults who remain in the room realize that it is time to address that problem, and with at least as much priority as we address staying ready to confront others militarily, that keeps us in a worn out response mode.

One aspect of this land grab competition that may not be readily apparent yet, beyond the pumping of sand in various places to create new facts on newly created ground, is that space in our immediate solar system will be where most of that new ground will be found. And in that competition, as things stand now, as Spain and Portugal were in the very first go around, you will find yourself in a new world of hurt.

The biggest aspect of that hurt, however, will be if humanity continues with the old ways of handling such competition. And in this is it essential to come up with new ways to replace "first come first serve, with collaborative cooperation in both getting, and sharing. And the bottom line there is that space exploration should not be seen only as an opportunity for new real estate to conquer, but as a completely new mind space to use our ability to think, and feel, our way out of the usual cause and effect of conflict. There is just so much more out there to find than mere material gain. The first step is to earn the maturity it will take to fully grasp what that potential can entail.

China's Racing to Space. Is It a Military Ploy?